Ornamental sweetpotato plant named &#39;Sweet Caroline Bewitched Purple&#39;

ABSTRACT

Ipomoea batatas  ‘Sweet Caroline Bewitched Purple’ is an erect to semi-erect, bunch-type cultivar producing many shoots and having very dense foliage. This cultivar is distinguishable from other cultivars by its large, reniform, toothed, purple leaves and erect to semi-erect architecture. The plant has good vigor, is very well branched and produces an attractive, round mound of foliage. It is well suited for container production and/or ground cover or border applications. The production of flowers by ‘Sweet Caroline Bewitched Purple’ is limited even under short day conditions.

RELATED APPLICATION INFORMATION

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser.No. 60/752,486, filed Dec. 21, 2005; the disclosure of which isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

LATIN NAME OF THE GENUS AND SPECIES

The Latin name of the novel, ornamental plant variety disclosed hereinis Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.

VARIETY DENOMINATION

The inventive cultivar of Ipomoea batatas disclosed herein has beengiven the varietal denomination ‘Sweet Caroline Bewitched Purple’.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Ipomoea species are members of the morning glory family Convolvulaceae.Ipomoea batatas, the cultivated species, is commonly produced forconsumption and referred to as the white or yellow sweetpotato and theorange yam. The plants are typically fast growing, green vinespossessing a wide variety of leaf shapes ranging from palmate and deeplylobed, to cordate or triangular shaped leaves with no lobes. Ornamentalsweetpotatoes, which have been bred and selected for their uniquefoliage colors, leaf shapes and plant habits, typically do not producelarge fleshy storage roots like the sweetpotato cultivated forconsumption. In comparison, storage roots produced by ornamentalsweetpotatoes are typically not as large because no selection has beenexercised for yield, thus storage roots do not begin to swell until verylate in the season. Further, the few storage roots that are formed byornamental sweetpotatoes are typically not as attractive as thoseproduced by the tablestock types as they are generally cracked, verymalformed, often mottled in skin and flesh color, and are not palatable.

Late in the growing season when day-lengths begin to shorten or when theplants are stressed, ornamental sweetpotato plants produce tubularflowers that are similar to morning glories, but most plantings aredominated by the appearance of the foliage. The plants are highlydesirable due to their ability to grow under varied stress conditions,cover a large space, and last the entire growing season. Moreover, theseplants have few insect or disease problems.

Until the release of the Sweet Caroline series of ornamental sweetpotatoes (see below) there were six popular types of Ipomoea batatasornamental sweetpotatoes being cultivated primarily for their annual,summer vines in landscaping applications. These six cultivars are:‘Blackie’ (not patented), having purple foliage and lavender flowers;‘Terrace Lime’ (not patented) and ‘Margarita’ (not patented; also knownas ‘Sulfur’), which have large brilliant chartreuse leaves and lavenderblooms; ‘Black Heart’ (not patented; also known as ‘Ace of Spades’),having heart-shaped leaves with burgundy purple color; ‘Tricolor’ (notpatented; also known as ‘Pink Frost’), a variegated plant having palegreen, white, and pink-margined leaves; and ‘Lady Fingers’ (unpatented),which has medium green, dainty leaves divided into long, thin,fingerlike lobes that are complemented by burgundy stems and veins.

Ipomoea batatas ‘Margarita’ was recently released in the United States,and has become widely used as a landscape annual. However, it is notsuitable for mixed containers as this variety exhibits a very vigorousgrowth and tends to out-compete other species. See Armitage, A. M. andJ. M. Garner, (2001) Ipomoea batatas ‘Margarita’. Hort Science 36:178.Another popular variety, ‘Blackie’, is a vigorous purple-leaved clone,which is also unsuited to containerized gardens.

Therefore, to meet the current horticultural demand, it is desirable toproduce new, more robust cultivars of ornamental sweetpotato withattractive foliage colors, leaf shapes, and plant architectures. Inaddition, it would be advantageous to develop cultivars of ornamentalsweetpotato exhibiting a more compact growth, and which do notout-compete other species in mixed containers.

Ipomoea batatas ‘Sweet Caroline Light Green’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No.15,028, issued Jul. 20, 2004), ‘Sweet Caroline Green’ (U.S. Plant Pat.No. 15,056, issued Aug. 3, 2004), ‘Sweet Caroline Bronze’ (U.S. PlantPat. No. 15,437, issued Dec. 21, 2004), ‘Sweet Caroline Purple’ (U.S.Plant Pat. No. 14,912, issued Jun. 15, 2004), and ‘Sweet Caroline Red’(United States Patent Publication No. 2006001054) are recentlyintroduced cultivars developed by the Sweetpotato Breeding and GeneticsProgram at North Carolina State University that are characterized bycompact growth habit, moderate to deeply lobed palmate leaves, andattractive foliage color.

The present invention relates to a new and distinct variety of Ipomoeabatatas named ‘Sweet Caroline Bewitched Purple’. This variety is anerect to semi-erect, bunch-type variety producing many shoots and havingvery dense foliage. This variety is distinguishable from other varietiesby its large, reniform, slightly toothed, purple leaves and erect tosemi-erect architecture. The plant has good vigor, is very well branchedand produces an attractive round mound of foliage. It is well suited forcontainer production and/or ground cover or border applications.

Lineage. The Ipomoea batatas ‘Sweet Caroline Bewitched Purple’ cultivar(breeding designation NC1124-3ORN) originated from a conventional crossbetween Ipomoea batatas cultivars NC547ORN (the female parent; notpatented) and ‘Pink Frost’ (the male parent) conducted from October 2001to April 2002 at the Horticultural Greenhouses located at North CarolinaState University, Raleigh, N.C.

NC547ORN resulted from a cross between NC102-1ORN (female parent; notpatented) and NC1 25-1ORN (male parent; not patented). Seed from thiscross were planted in the Horticultural Greenhouses in Spring 2002. Thesingle, individual plant now known as Ipomoea batatas ‘Sweet CarolineBewitched Purple’ was selected in August/September 2002 because of itscombination of exceptional features and has been propagated asexuallysince that time.

Asexual Reproduction. Since its selection, Ipomoea batatas ‘SweetCaroline Bewitched Purple’ has been asexually reproduced at theHorticultural Greenhouses located at North Carolina State University,Raleigh, N.C., predominantly by vegetative propagation of vine cuttings.Successively, there have been three cycles of vegetative propagation,one cycle of tissue culture micropropagation, and multiple vegetativepropagation cycles to increase the plant population. Asexualreproduction of the new Ornamental Sweetpotato cultivar by cuttings hasshown that the unique features of the new cultivar are stable and theplant reproduces true to type in successive generations of asexualreproduction.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Ipomoea batatas ‘Sweet Caroline Bewitched Purple’ is an erect tosemi-erect, bunch-type cultivar producing many shoots and having verydense foliage. This cultivar is distinguishable from other cultivars byits large, reniform, toothed, purple leaves and erect to semi-erectarchitecture. The plant has good vigor, is very well branched andproduces an attractive, round mound of foliage. It is well suited forcontainer production and/or ground cover or border applications. Theproduction of flowers by ‘Sweet Caroline Bewitched Purple’ is limitedeven under short day conditions.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The photographs in the drawings were made using conventional techniquesand show the colors as true as reasonably possible by conventionalphotography. Colors in the photographs may differ slightly from thecolor values cited in the detailed botanical description, whichaccurately describe the colors of the new Ipomoea batatas.

FIG. 1 is a color photograph showing both new and mature foliageproduced by Ipomoea batatas ‘Sweet Caroline Bewitched Purple’.

FIG. 2 is a color photograph of a typical plant of the Ipomoea batatas‘Sweet Caroline Bewitched Purple’.

FIG. 3 is a color photograph showing typical storage roots produced byIpomoea batatas ‘Sweet Caroline Bewitched Purple’ 123 days afterplanting. Plants were planted as five-hill plots spaced 30.5 cm apart inthe row at the Horticultural Crops Research Station, Clinton, N.C. USA.

DETAILED BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION

The following is a detailed description of the botanical characteristicsof the new and distinct cultivar of Ipomoea batatas plant known by thecultivar name ‘Sweet Caroline Bewitched Purple’. All colors cited hereinrefer to The Royal Horticultural Society Colour Chart (The RoyalHorticultural Society, London, 1995 edition) designations except wheregeneral terms of ordinary dictionary significance are used. Wheredimensions, sizes, colors, and other characteristics are given, it is tobe understood that such characteristics are approximations or averagesset forth as accurately as practicable.

The descriptions reported herein are from 11-week-old specimens. Ipomoeabatatas ‘Sweet Caroline Bewitched Purple’ has not been observed underall possible environmental conditions; therefore, the phenotype maydiffer somewhat with variations in the environment such as season,temperature, light intensity, day length, cultural conditions, and thelike, without however any variance in the genotype.

Technical Description of the Variety

Above-Ground Structure. Ipomoea batatas ‘Sweet Caroline BewitchedPurple’ is a round, compact mounding plant. Long petioles allow thesinuate, reniform leaves to arch up and outward and the multiplesecondary laterals result in very dense foliage. Plant height is 20 cmand the area of spread is 58 cm. ‘Sweet Caroline Bewitched Purple’ is afast grower with good vigor.

Branching Habitat. Very free branching with no basal shoots; however,adventitious roots develop at the nodes and will root if in contact withthe soil.

Lateral Shoots. The number of lateral shoots averages around 7 and eachmain stem has 4-6 shorter secondary shoots. Lateral branch length: ˜28cm. Diameter: 0.6 cm. Internode length: 1 cm. Stems are round, smoothand strong with very sparse, minute pubescence on the bottom of the mainstems only. The shoots are initially upright but then fall outward,forming a dense canopy due to the many overlapping stems. Color: verydark purple/black (RHS 187A).

Petiole. Leaf petiole length varies; it averages 10.8 cm but goes up to23 cm. Diameter: 0.4. Petiole texture is smooth. Color is 187A above andbelow.

Foliage. Leaves are alternate and tend to spiral around the stems. Theyare simple and generally reniform with irregular projecting points(FIGS. 1 and 2). The number of leaves per stem varies with length; anaverage stem has ˜26 leaves. The leaf tip is acuminate and the base istruncate. The leaf margins are slightly sinuate and nearly entire withirregular projections (toothing) around the leaf margins and especiallyat the base. Leaf length averages 9.5 cm (up to 11.5 cm) and leaf widthaverages 9 cm (up to 12 cm). The leaves have no pubescence. The venationpattern is palmate at the leaf base becoming arcuate toward the leaftip. Color: Table 1. TABLE 1 Leaf Structure Upper Surface Lower SurfaceYoung Leaf Bright yellow-green, RHS Bright yellow-green, RHS 144A 144AMature Leaf Dark green to dark purple, Dark green to dark purple, muchdarker than RHS a little more grey than 147A RHS 187A Vein 187A 187A

Flowers. The production of flowers by ‘Sweet Caroline Bewitched Purple’is very limited even under short day conditions.

Below-Ground Structure. Plants form small underground storage roots thatare highly malformed and do not meet USDA Sweetpotato Storage Root GradeStandards (FIG. 3). Storage roots that do form typically possess creamcolored skin (161A, 161B) with a cream colored flesh (158C) with lightpurple mottling (24B).

Growth Conditions. Ipomoea batatas ‘Sweet Caroline Bewitched Purple’ hasexcellent vigor and growth rate. It is very adaptable to containerculture. In locales with mild winter conditions, Ipomoea batatas ‘SweetCaroline Bewitched Purple’ will grow perennially; otherwise it is anannual plant. Similar to cultivated sweetpotatoes, wind or rain rarelycauses much damage to ‘Sweet Caroline Bewitched Purple’, but if damagedoes occur, the plant drops the damaged leaves and grows new shoots atnodes where the leaves were lost.

Disease or Pest Resistance. Ipomoea batatas ‘Sweet Caroline BewitchedPurple’ is susceptible to Sweetpotato Feathery Mottle Virus, white rust(caused by Albugo ipomoeae-panduratae) and damage by Japanese beetles.

Comparison with Other Ipomoea batatas Cultivars

‘Sweet Caroline Bewitched Purple’ is very distinct based on leaf color,leaf shape and plant architecture (Table 2). Of the most commoncultivars of ornamental sweetpotato, Ipomoea batatas ‘Sweet CarolineBewitched Purple’ is best compared with the ‘Sweet Caroline Purple’ and‘Black Heart’ cultivars. Like ‘Sweet Caroline Purple’, ‘Sweet CarolineBewitched Purple’ is well-branched and moderate in size. ‘Sweet CarolineBewitched Purple’ is more erect in plant habit than either ‘Black Heart’or ‘Sweet Caroline Purple’. Further, where ‘Sweet Caroline Purple’ hasdeeply lobed leaves and ‘Black Heart’ has heart-shaped leaves withslight toothing, ‘Sweet Caroline Bewitched Purple’ has pronouncedtoothing and no to slightly lobed leaves.

The parental strains used to produce ‘Sweet Caroline Bewitched Purple’were NC547ORN (female parent) and ‘Tricolor’ (also called ‘Pink Frost’,male parent). ‘Tricolor’ is a pink, white and green variegated plantwith modest vigor and moderately lobed leaves. TABLE 1 New VarietyComparison 1 ‘Sweet Caroline ‘Sweet Bewitched Caroline Comparison 2Characteristic Purple’ Purple’ ‘Black Heart’ Plant Habit Erect to Semi-Moderately Trailing erect Compact Foliage Color Greenish Purple DarkPurple Purple Leaf Size Moderate Moderate Moderate to Large Leaf ShapeWell Toothed to Deeply Lobed Heart-Shaped to Slightly Lobed SlightlyToothed

Herbarium Voucher

A voucher of ‘Sweet Caroline Bewitched Purple’ will be deposited intothe Herbarium of North Carolina State University in Raleigh, N.C., USAupon patenting.

1. A new and distinct cultivar of Ipomoea batatas plant named ‘SweetCaroline Bewitched Purple’, substantially as illustrated and describedherein.